Since 1910, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History has inspired curiosity and learning about the natural world and our place in it.

Our Future

05/14/2015

Museum specimens and records in historic literature and archives represent the only available information for many rare, extinct, and endangered species. In order to properly evaluate, study, and protect endangered populations, scientists require access to these records and specimens. The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is an open access digital library committed to providing free, global access to books and archives about the world’s plants and animals. With over 46 million pages spanning the past five centuries of recorded knowledge about Earth’s biodiversity, BHL includes a wealth of knowledge about endangered species and supports the work of scientists and conservationists around the globe.

I've worked with the Biodiversity Heritage Library in various roles since 2008, and what I love most about my job is that I feel like I'm making a true difference to the work of those committed to describing, understanding, and protecting our precious biodiversity. Historic literature and archival field books provide information such as species data, ecosystem profiles, distribution maps, inter-dependency observations, geological and climatic records, and an historical perspective on species abundance, habitat alteration, and human exploration, culture and discovery. This information has a multitude of applications in modern-day science. It is used to populate species databases and datasets that inform present-day research. It not only allows scientists to study biodiversity, but also to save it by enabling new species identification and facilitating the development of holistic conservation methods that integrate all of the factors necessary for a species’ wellbeing into its overall protection strategy.

My work on the Biodiversity Heritage Library is helping scientists obtain free, open access to information that is critical to the conservation of not only endangered species, but life on our planet as a whole. As BHL's Outreach and Communication Manager, I spend most of my time sharing the awesome resources in our library via social media and working to ensure that as many people as possible know about the incredible free resources available at their fingertips. One thing I love to do in our social posts is highlight various species and books found in our collection, and to honor Endangered Species Day, I've selected a few of my favorite endangered species and shared information and beautiful illustrations from BHL below.

Arakan Forest Turtle (Heosemys depressa). Anderson, John. Anatomical and zoological researches: comprising an account of the zoological results of the two expeditions to western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875. v. 2 (1878). Yunnan Expeditions, Plate LV. Digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

Species One: Arakan Forest Turtle (Heosemys depressa)

In 2009, scientists saw one of the rarest turtles in the world for the first time in the wild. Believed extinct since 1908 until conservationists re-discovered it in a Chinese food market in 1994, the Arakan Forest Turtle (Heosemys depressa) was known to science by only a few museum and captive specimens until the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) team discovered five turtles in an elephant wildlife sanctuary in Myanmar in Southeast Asia. Listed as critically-endangered by the IUCN, the WCS team believes the elephant sanctuary holds promise as a focus for future conservation efforts for the turtle.

The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus). Buller, Walter Lawry. A history of the birds of New Zealand. (1873). Digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

Species Two: The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus)

The kākāpō has many impressive distinctions. It is the world’s heaviest parrot. It is also the world’s only flightless parrot. It is found only in New Zealand, and, with a lifespan of up to about 120 years, it may be one of the world’s longest-living birds. Today, the total known population is less than 150 individuals. Human development and introduced predators decimated the kākāpō population, particularly in the 19th century. Today, the Kākāpō Recovery Plan, implemented in the 1980s, monitors and protects the remaining population on three islands – Codfish Island (Whenua Hou), Little Barrier Island (Hauturu) and Anchor Island.

The Javan rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal in the world, with no more than 50 individuals left in the wild and none in captivity. The second-largest animal in Indonesia after the Asian elephant, adults are reported to weigh anywhere from 900-2,300 kg. Of three known subspecies, including the Indonesian Sunda rhinoceros, Vietnamese Sunda rhinoceros, and the Indian Sunda rhinoceros, only one – the Indonesian subspecies – still remains. While the Indian subspecies is believed to have gone extinct before 1925, the last remaining Vietnamese Sunda rhinoceros was killed by a poacher in 2010. Poaching, habitat loss, and lack of genetic diversity are the greatest threats to this species. Learn more about the rhinoceros and current conservation efforts from WWF.

03/17/2015

For 105 years, the National Museum of Natural History has served as a center for learning that has enabled millions of visitors every year to better understand the world we live in through innovative, hands-on learning experiences, scientific and cultural programming, and world-class exhibitions. To celebrate our 105th Birthday we want to share some highlights, tidbits of what we’ve learned, and moments of inspiration! What have you learned from your museum visits? What has inspired your scientific curiosity? Join the conversation online with the hashtag #NMNHBday!

We spoke with Dr. Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of NMNH, to kick-off the celebration!

For the past 28 months, I have had the honor of serving as the Director of the Museum. It has been a distinct privilege, one made all the more exciting by the fact that a day has yet to go by that I haven't learned something new. I'd like to share a few of the interesting things I have learned with you here:

1. You can breathe new life into old objects.

Climbing into the glass case in the Hall of Mammals, our researchers carefully plucked a few hairs from the taxidermy mount of the thylacine, or so-called Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). A dog-sized marsupial extinct since 1936, Curator Kris Helgen and an international team of scientists managed to reconstruct the thylacine's mitochondrial genome from just those few hairs. New technologies are continually emerging which make it increasingly cheaper and faster to sequence museum collections, unlocking their genetic potential for research and biodiversity conservation.

The museum is a major scientific research center where hundreds of staff and visiting scientists are working to uncover the mysteries of the Earth and similar planets every day. Our staff named over 400 new species just last year!

Two of the National Zoo’s thylacines, probably the surviving offspring of the original female, outside the Carnivora House, c. 1905. One of these animals (most likely the one in front) is USNM 125345, a specimen recently DNA-sequenced by a team of international scientists. (Image by E. J. Keller; National Zoological Park)

2. The ocean is teeming with undiscovered creatures.

From bacteria to whales, the ocean is home to a huge diversity of weird, wild, and wonderful animals, the vast majority of which awaits either discovery or the most basic understanding of what it is and how it functions. Among them are the hyperiid amphipods that swim their whole lives in the open water. Ranging in size from a few millimeters to nearly the length of your hand, they feed on jellies and other semi-helpless gelatinous animals. Curator Karen Osborn and other scientists are studying their eyes and find that within the approximately 320 species described so far, ten very different types of compound eyes have evolved to help them survive in the very dark waters of the deep ocean. They have eyes that allow them to see 360 degrees around their heads, mirrored eyes, duplicate eyes specialized for seeing different things, fiber optics, huge eyes, every other variation you can imagine and probably a few you haven't even imagined!

This image is a head-on (anterior/ventral) view of “P. gracilis” showing the two rows of orange pigmented retinas and the size of the head in comparison to the body. All those legs are used to grasp and scurry over their siphonophore prey. (Image by Karen Osborn, Smithsonian Institution)

3. Building a 21st century home for dinosaurs is no simple task - especially in a 105-year-old building.

One of the most complex projects in the Museum’s history is now underway – the renovation of the National Fossil Hall. Working with over two thousand fossils comprised of over 10,000 individual pieces and spanning 3 billion years of Earth's history is no easy feat. Imagine that most of those specimens have incomplete or now-scientifically inaccurate information and all need specialized handling and care. The Fossil Hall space, itself, is a circa-1910 architectural fossil badly in need of a complete overhaul. While over seven million visitors continue to explore the Museum's other exhibitions, hundreds of shipments will arrive behind the scenes carrying miles of conduit, electrical, ventilation, and data lines and tons of building materials for the renovation. You can follow along with the progress as our Exhibition team designs and builds the Fossil Hall of the future.

Director Kirk Johnson and Dr. Matthew Carrano inspecting the humerus, part of the forearm, of the Nation’s T. rex. (Image by Hilary-Morgan Watt, Smithsonian Institution)

4. We have the world’s largest collection of whale skeletons.

NMNH is the repository of the world's largest natural history collection - home to more than 128 million specimens, each of which enable us to travel through time to see the world as it once was and to look ahead to what it might be in the future. Our whale collection is just one of many comprehensive research collections, and we're taking this content into the future by 3-D scanning specimens.

Jawbones of blue whale, in off-site storage at the Museum Support Center in Maryland. One mandible is the single largest bone in the world. (Image by Hilary-Morgan Watt, Smithsonian Institution)

5. Re-thinking the way young people are exposed to science will have a tremendous impact on our future.

I grew up around museums. I spent lots of time as a kid exploring the Burke Museum and getting to know its scientists in my hometown of Seattle. Along with actively spending time in nature collecting fossils, this helped lead me to become a paleontologist. For more than a year, the Q?rius Science Education Center has been open for business onsite and online! This innovative space targeted to kids in middle and high school allows visitors to immerse themselves in science. Kids are encouraged to interact with our scientists, use laboratory quality scientific equipment, and pick up and handle museum-grade collection objects (over 6,000 specimens!) from dinosaur fossils to fish to flowers. Explore Q?rius online and start to build your own digital field book!

02/22/2015

As our Museum writers, scientists, and exhibition developers produce the script for the new Fossil Hall, they’re discovering lots of fascinating stories about how life evolved. We’ll be sharing some of our favorites here.

Passing cargo ships are a common sight at one of the fossil dig sites along the Panama Canal. Photo by Juliana Olsson.

In March 2014, I visited a fossil excavation project along the Panama Canal run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. We don’t normally search for fossils in the lush tropics, but the current expansion project to widen the channels and build new locks is exposing more rocks. This gives scientists a rare opportunity to find otherwise inaccessible fossils. It was both strange and wonderful to stand on the 100-year-old canal and look at fossils that were far older. Panama’s story is essentially the tale of multiple waves of invasive species. The formation of this narrow strip of land millions of years ago allowed organisms from North and South America to cross into new environments. Today, humans bring animals and plants to Panama from distant ports. Along the banks of the canal, invasive species separated by millions of years meet—elephant grass native to South Asia slowly encroaches on fossils that reveal new information about our planet’s past.

Panama today is an isthmus (or land bridge) connecting North and South America. Image from freeworldmaps.net.

Lay of the Land

Panama’s geology is crucial to this story of species migration. Before it was an isthmus, Panama was a peninsula jutting off of North America. Between 21 and 18 million years ago, the distance between North and South America was about 124 miles (200 km) and covered in deep seas. The sediments along the canal reveal a series of drastic transformations during this time: underneath volcanic basalt, paleontologists have uncovered a shallow marine environment sandwiched between two terrestrial layers. These layers tell scientists that within the span of a few million years this region was first above sea level, then underwater, then above sea level again, and later covered in lava—all due to tectonic activity. Fast-forward to 1914, when the landscape again changed dramatically (this time thanks to humans): where a land bridge once separated two oceans, the United States government divided the continents by completing a series of canal locks connected by an enormous artificial lake.

Past Invasions

Around three million years ago, land animals migrated in earnest across the Isthmus of Panama. Scientists call this the Great American Biotic Interchange (or GABI). Camels, elephant-like gomphotheres, tapirs, deer, foxes, rabbits, bears, peccaries, and cougars moved into South America while large flightless birds, giant ground sloths, capybaras, armadillos, porcupines, and opossums came north. This migration totally changed the face of the fauna on both continents—in fact, many animals that we think of as stereotypically South American (such as llamas) actually have North American origins.

The rocks along the canal are at least 15 million years older than GABI, so scientists expected to find North American animals like horses, camels, bear-dogs, and raccoons. They didn’t expect South American species, but that is what they are now unearthing. Take the 19.3 million year old boa fossil they found. Boas can swim, but crossing a 124-mile (200 km) seaway is an impressive feat. How did it get to Panama? Did it “island-hop,” or raft across on storm-swept debris? Or was there an older, more solid connection between North and South America? Fossils like this one are pushing back the timing of the formation of the isthmus, and making scientists re-evaluate past assumptions about when and how species migrated.

Paleontologists in hard hats and safety vests walk along the banks of the canal, eyes down, scanning the ground for fossils from the Cascadas Formation. Photo by Juliana Olsson.

Present invasions

Understanding how ancient animals fared in new environments is relevant to our world today because so many plants and animals follow on the heels of humans. These species change ecosystems wherever they’re introduced. For example, elephant grass, or canal grass, grows everywhere along the canal. No one seems to know when it was introduced, though canal workers might have planted it to control erosion along the banks of the original canal cuts. Today it has become a pest: elephant grass is the first plant to appear in new clearings, driving out the native pioneer communities. One scientist is actually doing genetic research to determine if all the grass came from a single introduction or represents multiple arrivals. But that’s a story for another day!

Here on the banks of the Panama Canal the present tangles with the past. Elephant grass—a recent invasive—grows so quickly that it covers the fossil dig sites on the banks of the expanded canal. Paleontologists have only a narrow window of time to recover fossils before the plants take over again and cover the past for good.

The far bank of the canal is already overgrown with grasses and shrubs. Photo by Juliana Olsson.

By Juliana Olsson, Exhibits Writer/Editor, National Museum of Natural History

09/10/2013

In mid-July of 2013, the Deep Time exhibits team went to North Dakota to collect fossils. Our goal was to find 66-million-year-old fossils from the Late Cretaceous for our new exhibitions, and to learn more about paleontology. This is the first post in a series about our experiences in the field.

The Hell Creek Formation is a microfossil treasure trove— if
you know what to look for. Photo of Abby Telfer
collecting microfossils. Photo by Kay Behrensmeyer, Smithsonian Institution

Before our trip, many exhibits team members had no field
experience. Luckily, we could turn to our curators for advice and
encouragement. They helped us learn what
to look for and where, and how to identify fossils.

How do professional paleontologists know something is a
fossil? Years of practice! But even with a little experience around fossils,
you’ll have an easier time picking one out from a pile of rock by looking for
three traits:

1. Color

The black and grey fossil bone fragment on the left
is a different color than the surrounding reddish rocks. It is also denser than
the weathered modern bone on the right. Photo
by Juliana Olsson, Smithsonian Institution

Fossils tend to have a different color from the surrounding
rock. They may be lighter than the rocky substrate, or they might be darker –
it all comes down to the weathering process, and the fossil materials. Plant
fossils are almost always darker than the rock in which they’re found. If
you’re searching for microfossils on the ground, they’ll probably be a lighter,
almost creamy color since they have been exposed to the elements—though teeth,
claws, and scales are dark and glossy.

2. Texture

This piece of turtle shell embedded in the rock has
a distinct, dimpled texture, which makes it noticeable even though it’s only
about 4 cm wide. Photo by Kay
Behrensmeyer, Smithsonian Institution

Bones are more porous than rock, and this texture difference
makes them easier to spot. Because of its “spongy” texture, if you touch a
fossil to your tongue it will typically stick, whereas rock and soil won’t. If
you’re not in the mood to do the tongue test, you can also look for pores through
a hand lens.

Some bone patterns can tell you who the original owner might
have been. Turtle shells have little pits and grooves on one side. Crocodile scutes
have even more pronounced pits, and sometimes a little ridge in the middle.
Young and old members of the same species differ in the growth patterns on
their bones, a fact which can help scientists determine the biological age of a
fossil. Sometimes bones even have little marks on them where muscles used to be
attached.

3. Shape

If you’re lucky, the item’s shape will be an even bigger
clue. While many bone fragments are unidentifiable, there are many bones that
are highly diagnostic for an entire group of animals, if not for a species.
These diagnostic bones tend to be things with complex shapes, like vertebrae,
skull bones, and even teeth and claws. For plants, the diagnostic features tend
to be the leaf edges and bases, as well as the pattern of veins.

The fossils we found came in a wide variety of
shapes, from blade-like gar scales (box at bottom right), to oval fish
vertebrae (above the gar scales), to pointy conical teeth! Photo by Kay
Behrensmeyer, Smithsonian Institution

Distinctive bones aren’t the only fossils with easily
identifiable shapes. Coprolites (fossil poop) look the way you’d expect them
to, and tend to be a little bit lighter than the rocks around them. Casts,
molds, and steinkerns (internal molds) look like the original organism;
mollusks and other animals with shells are often preserved this way.

If you spend even a short time looking for fossils, you’ll
learn how to tell that the thing in your hand is a vertebra or a root. But to
know what genus it belongs to, you’ll have to spend some time handling fossils
and doing research. Generations of scientists have taken the time to describe
in detail the anatomy of animals past and present, and you can compare your
fossils to these descriptions. You can visit university websites like UCMP for more information on
identifying fossils, volunteer at your local prep lab, or come see our fossil
exhibits in person. You can also follow Deep Time at the
Smithsonian (or the NMNH Facebook
and Twitter feeds) for more on fossils
and updates about the exhibit.

by Juliana Olsson, NMNH Office of Exhibits Writer with the support of Angela Roberts and Siobhan Starrs

11/23/2012

Observing dental and skull structure under a microscope to identify an unknown specimen. Image courtesy of Tho Tran.

By Tho Tran, YES! 2012 Intern

Where are you from and what brings you to the Museum?

My name is Tho Tran, and I am a rising sophomore from Annandale High School in Virginia. I love biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and mathematics with a great passion and want to dedicate my years of college to these subjects. I also like drawing, practicing martial arts, reading, writing, composing poems, and doing outdoor activities, such as riding a bike. As a realistic optimist, I always endeavor to improve myself and my community. I believe that everyone can make a difference in the society if he or she tries. With a love for science and math, and this realistic optimism, I became interested in having an internship at NMNH.

How did you get “Behind those Doors?”

After completing and submitting the application available on the website, it was a great pleasure and honor to get accepted to the Youth Engagement through Science! (YES!) Program for 2012. The experience I gained from this program is incomparable and valuable. YES! is composed of two parts: the six-week internship at NMNH in the summer and college preparation sessions in the fall. The six-week internship is organized into project days and learning days so interns experience work with mentors and scientists, field trips, and presentations about STEM careers. YES! introduces interns to the real-life aspects of scientific research, helps the them explore career options, and provides them with an in-depth look at college by allowing them to ask college students questions. The fall component then focuses on college preparation including resume writing, admissions essay writing, college visits, and more.

What are you doing back there, behind those doors?”

Cataloging ready specimens. Image courtesy of Tho Tran.

I assisted with the organization of mammal skins and skulls from the Walter Bulmer collection. The skins and skulls are classified into common groups like mice, bats, shrews, voles, etc. Using the field notes that the collector wrote, I matched up the skins with the proper skulls. Once the specimens were matched up, they were ready to be cataloged.

I also helped my mentor, Suzanne Peurach with other aspects of caring for this collection including preparing large and small specimens, cataloging, numbering bones, labeling skulls, and installing specimens.

Through this project, I learned how to identify skulls by observing the dental structure, and skull characteristics. For example, clues to the diet of Noctilio leoporinus(also known as the Great Bulldog Bat) can be found by looking at the sagittal crest, which tells us in this case that is probably a carnivore. I also found out that there are other clues such as hair identification and DNA that can help to identify unknown specimens.

In addition to these aspects of my work on the Walter Bulmer collection, I was taught how to prepare mammal specimens and had the opportunity to study internal anatomy of small desert rodents called jirds; learning about their muscles, tendons and bones while preparing the skeletons for cleaning.

What’s been the most amazing or unexpected thing you’ve seen, experienced or discovered while being part of the NMNH academic community?

It's too hard to pick just one thing! First, throughout the six- week internship, I discovered my weakness, which was that I tended to make simple things more convoluted and especially so with science experiments. I thought that science projects must be complex and intricate. However, after seeing my mentor and other interns' projects, I realized that one simple idea can lead to a simple project or experiment that can change the world.

Second, while on a tour of the Lab of Analytical Biology, which was then at the Museum Support Center, I found out that I really love genetics. The tour was an awesome experience and, with my prior knowledge from biology I learned in school, I felt really engaged and interested. I now know that I want to study genetics and molecular biology in college along with mathematics and biochemistry. I know that sounds ambitious, but it's possible!

Finally, I enjoyed honing my late-to-blossom public speaking skills. As long as I know what I am talking about, I now feel comfortable talking in front of a group of people. For example, I was confident when I helped my mentor give a tour of the mammal collections, and I felt excited and happy to share my knowledge with others.

11/08/2012

Did you know? At NMNH, we compost food scraps. All you need to do is put your food in the right bin like our visitor is doing here. Image courtesy of NMNH.

It is our pleasure to announce that the NMNH's restaurant operations have received a 3-Star Certification as a Green Restaurant from the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). The NMNH is the first Smithsonian restaurant to achieve Green Restaurant Association certification.

Restaurant Associates and Smithsonian Enterprises have been working with the NMNH Greening Task Force to green the restaurant's operations and facilities with a major goal of receiving certification as a Green Restaurant. The GRA is an independent auditing agency that evaluates the environmental practices of restaurants and their audit process is very rigorous. Documentation in the form of photographs, months of invoices, menu records, and vendor corroboration was required by the GRA as evidence of environmental efforts and policies. This was a challenging process as even the wattage of every light bulb had to be documented. Points were awarded by the GRA for accomplishments in areas of energy, waste, water, sustainable food, sustainable furnishings and building materials, disposables, and pollution & chemical reduction. For instance, recycling the grease into biodiesel is worth 2.5 points and compostable cutlery is worth 0.75 points. Through 66 such steps the cafes accumulated a total of 181.88 points out of a 175 required for a 3-Star rating.

Organic fruit and other snacks available to visitors. Image courtesy of NMNH.

You have probably noticed that the whole hand fruit is all organic (look for a sticker code starting with the #9 for certified organic!) and a $.05 discount is offered on coffee when you bring your own mug. But did you know that much of the cafes' lighting is provided by energy efficient LED and CFL bulbs and the kitchen uses efficient energy star appliances that conserve water and energy? Even the chairs in the Café are made from recycled aluminum.

To maintain certification with the GRA, Restaurant Associates will have to provide copies of invoices each year to verify they are continuing to make sustainable purchases and will be required to conduct training of their staff and educational outreach to customers.

Other Smithsonian museums are beginning the GRA audit process and will strive for 3-Star ratings as well. We are proud that the NMNH is leading the way for Smithsonian sustainable restaurants and we hope you will continue to support sustainability efforts wherever you can.

08/27/2012

In the Sant Ocean Hall. Image courtesy of Jacqueline Schipani.

By Samantha Schipani, Winter and Summer Intern, Education & Outreach and Encyclopedia of Life

Where are you from and what brings you to the Museum?

I hail from the far-off land of Northern Virginia, but I attend college at Columbia University in New York City. I've wanted to intern at the National Museum of Natural History ever since I was a kid, roaming the hallowed halls with my parents during our weekend trips to the city. I believe my exact words were, I want to own this place so I can ride all the dinosaurs and wear the Hope Diamond, but I think that translates more or less to, "Gee, I think the Smithsonian would be a great place to work!" Presently, the kind of work the Smithsonian does, specifically in the Office of Education and Outreach and Encyclopedia of Life where I have interned, perfectly marries my passion for science and knack for business and communications (I'm currently a Neuroscience and Behavior major with a Business Management concentration).

How did you get "Behind those Doors?"

I was talking with a friend of mine two winters ago while still slaving away on my college applications and heard great things about NMNH. He had just finished his first semester at the College of William and Mary and was a winter intern in 2011. Hearing him describe the incredible research and public outreach work he was doing there showed me the light at the end of the tunnel. I was excited about the potential for awesome experiences that I could have mere months after beginning college if only I finished those grueling applications. We kept in touch, and the next year he led me to the site where I could apply.

After emailing various project managers whose research coincided with my interests, I heard back from Catherine Sutera, an ocean science educator in the Office of Education and Outreach who was focusing on public programs for the Sant Ocean Hall. From there, we discussed hours, duties, and paperwork - pretty soon, I was a full-fledged Smithsonian intern!

This summer, I emailed Catherine again after I finished working for a middle school science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) camp, eager to help out for the remaining month I had before heading back to college. While Catherine had already taken on another intern for the summer, she put me in contact with Breen Byrnes at the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) who just happened to have some outreach projects for me to tackle. Within a few weeks, I was back at the National Museum of Natural History!

What is it you're doing back there, behind those doors?

Over the winter season, I started by reorganizing the master spreadsheet of specimens in the Sant Ocean Hall. The Sant Ocean Hall is the largest exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History and has about 700 specimens and artifacts on display. Needless to say, it was quite a task. Over the course of my internship, I had the rare privilege of getting to explore the Hall before regular museum hours and becoming personally acquainted with each and every object in the exhibition. The experience was really incredible.

After I finished working on the spreadsheet, I made a collection for the Sant Ocean Hall on EOL, a comprehensive online encyclopedia of all the living flora and fauna on the planet. The EOL Collection tool lets you gather content, like images, articles, or maps that are on EOL, into a virtual collection you can name, annotate and share. The Sant Ocean Hall collection is convenient for an online user who is curious to see all the different species featured in the Sant Ocean Hall or a museum-goer who wants to learn more about a specific trilobite hanging on the wall. I quickly became adept at using EOL tools and am quite proud of the finished product.

Excited about working with Encyclopedia of Life. Image courtesy of Samantha Schipani.

What's been the most amazing or unexpected thing you've seen, experienced or discovered while being part of the NMNH academic community?

The passion of the employees at NMNH never ceases to amaze me. These are people who truly care about the work they are doing, whether it is science research or public outreach. They are also incredibly creative in ways that just blow me away. I had assumed that a certain level of sophisticated creativity was required to run such an amazing, unique institution, but I've even found it in the most unexpected places! Katja Schulz of Encyclopedia of Life, who works two desks down from me this summer, makes the most hilarious, wonderful collections on EOL - they are absolutely worth exploring. Here are some of my favorite collections: Cute!, Genera Named after Greek Mythological Figures, and Species with Funny English Names.

Furthermore, everyone I've met has demonstrated an amazing sense of curiosity for all the work that's happening at the museum. Not only have I had the opportunity to go on tours that are completely unrelated to the departments I've worked in (I especially loved the Cullman Library Rare Book Collection tour), but both of my mentors have gone out of their way to show me exhibits and labs that are particularly cool. Catherine and I went to a feeding at the O. Orkin Insect Zoo (freaky, but awesome!) and Breen and I have talked about exploring the high-resolution photo lab across the hall from our office. It really is an incredible place to work because there is always something amazing happening.

08/16/2012

Where are you from and what brings you to the Museum?

My name is Kendall Annetti and I’m from Park Ridge, Illinois. I am currently a senior at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and am a double major in Animal Sciences and Integrative Biology with hopes of going to veterinary school. I am passionate about wildlife disease research and am currently doing a research project in the Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Lab at the Illinois Natural History Survey under Dr. Nohra Mateus-Pinilla. My work focuses on surveying and assessing the health impact of blood parasites in waterfowl and upland game birds in Illinois. I also really enjoy horseback riding!

How did you get “Behind those Doors?”

Arthi and I exploring the cabinets in the Division of Birds. Image courtesy of Kendall Annetti.

I helped on a project in vertebrate zoology collections management in the Division of Birds. I had applied to some of the other projects I was interested in but many of the programs had already filled up or I wasn’t the best candidate for the job so I turned to what I enjoy the most, birds! The Natural History Museum’s website directed the potential applicants to Chris Milensky as the point of contact for the Division of Birds, so I emailed him directly asking for an internship. After being accepted, I then started working with Chris on the details and paperwork necessary for me to come to D.C. during my winter break and help with the collections. Chris was really great at understanding and accommodating my interests in veterinary science and had me work on things geared towards my skills.

What is it you’re doing back there, behind those doors?

Arthi, on left, and I at the National Zoo preparing to necropsy an oryx. Image courtesy of Kendall Annetti.

I did a variety of things at the Smithsonian! I never imagined I would get to do so many different things in such a short amount of time. The majority of my time at the Museum was spent working with my fellow intern Arthi on a collection of birds from Tanzania. We first took muscle scrapings to put in the tissue collection and put metal tags on the birds so they could be sent off to Museum Support Center (MSC) to the dermestid colonies for cleaning. We also worked putting tags on Tanzanian specimens being kept in alcohol. Additionally, Arthi and I inventoried tissue samples, assembled skeleton specimens of kori bustards and mute swans, and attended a necropsy of an oryx at the National Zoo!

What’s been the most amazing or unexpected thing you’ve seen, experienced or discovered while being part of the NMNH academic community?

I was really amazed at the size of the collections! It was so impressive to open up any cabinet in the Division of Birds and see something completely different than the cabinet next to it. We toured MSC and got to walk through some of the mammal collection as well, the diversity and sheer number of specimens were astonishing! Not to mention that ever staff member who I met not only loved their job, but was genuinely excited to share their knowledge with interns and the public. The Winter Break Internship was a great experience for me and I thought the whole thing was pretty amazing!

08/14/2012

Where are you from and what brings you to the Museum?

Image courtesy of Emma Cogan.

My name is Emma Cogan and I am a senior at Loyola University, Maryland where I study history and philosophy. I am interested early American, Atlantic, and intellectual history. I am from the Washington D.C. area and therefore grew up visiting the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. I hope to work in archives, historic preservation, or in the museum field after I graduate so working here has been both incredibly exciting and rewarding.

How did you get “Behind those Doors?”

I came across the Winter Break Internship through the Smithsonian's internship webpage. The Winter Break Internship is a month long, full-time internship experience that occurs over the winter holidays at the Museum. It allows interns to work extensively on specific research projects. The website provides summaries of these various research projects. I contacted the supervisor of the project I was most interested in and was told to provide a resume. After a few weeks, I received an e-mail from my soon-to-be supervisor informing me I was accepted into the program.

What is it you’re doing back there, behind those doors?

I worked on the 1846 Project under the supervision of Paul Kimberly with the Associate Director for Research and Collections. My task was to create a digital database containing a list of the names and publications of all the scientists who have worked at the Institution since its founding in 1846. The first part of my job required me to find the names of these scientists; I looked primarily through old staff directories and annual reports from the Institution. After creating a comprehensive list of these names, I began to search for publication records in the Institution’s annual reports. The final step of my project required tracking down the publications themselves through an online database of scientific reports, articles, and reviews. Other interns on this project interviewed current scientists, searching for additional names or to correct any information we discovered.

What’s been the most amazing or unexpected thing youʼve seen, experienced or discovered while being part of the NMNH academic community?

While my work is fascinating in itself, there are so many added perks to working at the Museum. In one afternoon tour for instance, I held a rock from Mars, saw volcanic debris from Mount St. Helens and came face-to-face with a 17th-century skeleton from Jamestown. Working in such a historically significant museum was also a surreal experience. Every day I delved knee-deep into archival material in an office that just happens to overlook the famous rotunda. This has, by far, been the most fantastic opportunity of my undergraduate career.

04/26/2012

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) recently served up an interesting challenge for local students—design mobile education “carts” for our new state-of-the-art Education Center, currently under construction here at NMNH.

The students, part of the National Building Museum’s Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP), are involved in a seven-week course in which students learn about design by designing and planning a product and then building it. For the last 11 years, the program has been giving middle and high school teens a chance to learn about designing, building, working as a team, and working for a client.

To be successful in their building design, the students learned about what kind of work is conducted at the National Museum of Natural History. DAP students met with scientists, educators, volunteers, and exhibits staff from the museum to learn about how and what NMNH scientists study, how science information is conveyed, and how the museum uses carts to give visitors an up-close view of objects and conduct demonstrations.

Supporting the program’s core values of teamwork, research, and peer communication, the DAP students met with NMNH’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB). YAB, a group of local teens working with NMNH to develop new ways to communicate science to their peers, provided the DAP students a perspective from other teens on what happens at NMNH and gave them an opportunity to exchange ideas.

Exposing the students to both museums has played a real role in helping students understand the intersection between design and science. “Design and science are interconnected. Design is all about how people perceive something, to the point that it really is a science…” said Vangie Hakes, a DAP teen.

“And in science, design is really apparent. Everything in the universe, whether it's natural or man-made, is designed in a certain way, to serve a certain purpose. The way a thing works is based on its design.”

Since NMNH is in the midst of building its new education center, the design project has been very timely. The new education center will be a 10,000-square-foot space designed for students, families, teachers, and life-long learners to get up-close to the science behind the science at the National Museum of Natural History. Visitors will be able to handle and learn about 20,000 collection objects, attend lectures and events in a new theatre, and participate in activities in the classroom.

The new space will house activities focused on thousands of collection objects, education programs, and public programs that are designed to be happening simultaneously. The complexity of the Education Center space and program design is an important project component for the students to better understand how their education cart design will fit into the bigger picture.

Stepping up to the design challenge, DAP students understood that integration of the Education Center design was critical in creating a successful product. “This program teaches us how to listen to other ideas, patience, and compromise. At DAP I learned more cooperation skills and mixing skills meaning taking my ideas and the ideas of others, mixing them together to make one big design,” observed DAP student Taylor Hicks.

The collaborative effort between the two museums and their youth programs not only taught the students about design and building, but it also helped the students understand the value of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

“Working with the actual client and meeting their needs really helps see what would happen in the real world because you have certain specifications you need to meet and if you don’t, they won’t be satisfied,” says DAP student Sumaiyah Liggans.

The collaboration between the National Building Museum and the National Museum of Natural History has been a successful pilot project. The DAP students are continuing to learn about design and building, while serving real community needs. Students from each of the Museum’s teen programs are also learning how transferrable their new skills are between the building and science disciplines.

On Saturday, April 28, 2012, from 1-3 pm, the National Building Museum will host a reception where the teens will present their prototypes. The event is free and open to the public, with refreshments after the presentations are complete. Come out to the National Building Museum to help these students celebrate their accomplishments.

Information about the Images: Design Apprenticeship Program students work as a team to design and build mobile education “carts” for the National Museum of Natural History’s new Education Center. The students worked closely with National Museum of Natural History staff to understand how the mobile education “carts” would be used, to better inform their design and prototype, seen here being built. All images courtesy of the National Building Museum.